Timbers. 



128 



[August, 1911 



object of beautifying the station. Some 

 roads were without trees, the banks 

 and slopes between them overgrown 

 with a tangled jungle growth; the 

 gardens of the houses left much to be 

 desired in many respects ; the roads of 

 the bazaar were dirty, and the offshoot 

 paths overgrown with a matted mass of 

 undergrowth, the home and breeding 

 grounds of pestilential flies and microbes. 

 At the instance of the Lieutenant- 

 Governor, the late Sir John Wood burn, 

 K.O.S.I., as fine and broad-minded a 

 type of the British official as could be 

 found anywhere, a motion was set on 

 foot which had for its object identical 

 aims with those, or some of them, the 

 present Town Planning Exhibition is 

 setting before the public, the beautify- 

 ing of the town so as to render it a 

 better dwelling place for those who had 

 to spend their lives, or a portion of 

 their lives, there. The question, once 

 mooted, was taken up with enthusiasm ; 

 and it must be remembered that, as in 

 Quetta, the population concerned mainly 

 consisted of men who would only pass 

 an uncertain number of years in the 

 station, a transfer or final retirement 

 home, ending their connection with it. 

 In Darjeeling a strong Committee was 

 formed, on which the Government, the 

 Municipality, the local bar, merchants, 

 house-owners, and private individuals, 

 British and Indian, alike were repre- 

 sented. 



The Government recognised, as was 

 pointed out by the Lord Provost at 

 Lord Pentland's speech the other day, 

 that it was not to the Municipality (that 

 is, Corporation or Town Council) alone 

 that it should look for the carrying out 

 of the scheme, that the whole responsi- 

 bility did not rest with the Munici- 

 pality alone. Whilst recognising the 

 necessity of the Municipality being the 

 first to move in the matter and promise 

 its support, it was pointed out that 

 every householder in the town had 

 equally a duty to perform in aiding the 

 scheme, and that no scheme could be 

 complete or effectual unless each house- 

 holder recognised such duty and was 

 prepared to give solid help to further the 

 ends in view. Donations and aid were 

 asked for by the Committee from the 

 Government, Municipality and also from 

 the householders, and were forthcoming 

 from each quarter. The Committee then 

 proceeded to lay down in broad general 

 lines its recommendations for giving 

 effect to Sir John Woodburn's ideas, and 

 these recommendations dealt with the 

 widening of roads, constructing new 

 roads, building up retaining walls to 

 keep up banks and slopes, planting trees 



either as avenues or in groups or single 

 trees, the pruning of existing trees 

 which required such work, cutting un- 

 sightly undergrowth from banks and 

 slopes and grassing such, cleaning up 

 the gardens of such householders as 

 could not afford to do the work, and in 

 making provision for giving out seed or 

 trees and shrubs where necessary. 



The broad principles of the work 

 having been laid down, a strong Work- 

 ing Committee was appointed, and the 

 whole of the work done in the station 

 in the year I am dealing with was done 

 by that Working Committee. House- 

 holders who were well off were asked to 

 consult personally the Working Com- 

 mittee as to the details of the improve- 

 ments to be carried out in their own 

 gardens, in so far as they affected the 

 external appearance of the town, and to 

 carry out the recommendations made 

 themselves. They were also asked to 

 aid the Working Committee by donating 

 seed and plants to be planted in the 

 gardens of the poorer classes. This 

 work was done by the staff of the Work- 

 ing Committee, and under the personal 

 superintendence of the latter. It was a 

 common sight during that spring, 

 summer, and autumn to see members of 

 the Committee supervising work for a 

 couple of hours before breakfast in the 

 morning, men who would be spending 

 the rest of the day in their offices 

 engaged in their ordinary daily pursuits. 

 As a result, the improvement in the 

 appearance of the station was astound 

 ing, and fully repaid the time and 

 labour spent on it. 



I have quoted this example at some 

 length because it shows that the question 

 of the improvement of a town, and more 

 specially the poorer and more squalid 

 parts of a town, is no Utopian scheme. 

 It should be quite possible to institute 

 similar committees in every large city 

 and town of this country. In the case 

 ot the larger ones, such as London, for 

 instance, each local district could have 

 its own local Working Committee once 

 the broad lines of policy had been laid 

 down. 



Here in Edinburgh a working planting 

 sub-committee of the town planning com- 

 mittee might be formed to look after the 

 beautifying of the city so far as such 

 could be advanced by planting work. 

 For the poorer quarters of the town a 

 definite scheme of planting, by which I 

 mean not only the planting of trees and 

 shrubs, but also the formation and up- 

 keep of grass and flowers should be laid 

 down and worked up too, as funds 

 allowed, it being a sine qua non that 

 only such work should be taken in hand 



